O'Driscoll keen to let Nottingham Forest players have their say

IF Sean O'Driscoll does possess a hairdryer, you suspect it is only turned on wet hair, rather than under-performing footballers.

Unlike Alex Ferguson, the Nottingham Forest manager is not the sort to rant and rave. But, for close to 45 minutes after the game on Saturday evening, nobody emerged from the away dressing room at Vicarage Road.

Inside, harsh words were being exchanged following a 2-0 defeat that, for many reasons, must register as one of the low points of the season so far.

But, while O'Driscoll said his piece, the Reds manager also insisted the players had their voices heard as well, as the squad staged an in depth post-match post-mortem.

"I played for 15 years and nobody asked my opinion in the dressing room," said O'Driscoll. "But we want the players to have an opinion. They are the ones who cross the white line and have to take responsibility when they do.

"We are trying to move forward off the back of a 2-0 defeat, but we want to do that together.

"Everyone has an opinion about what you should and shouldn't do. The players are the same. We want the players to be open, to voice their opinion. We want to try to get to where we want to be.

"I have been in too many dressing rooms where things have not gone well, where you have not played particularly well – and the manager has just come in and ranted and raved.

"It is not my style to do that, there is a time and a place. You ask the questions, however. And there is no point in being precious if they do not tell you what you want to hear.

"I have to set an example, I have to listen – we want to move things forward as quickly as we can."

O'Driscoll admits it was a difficult conversation, following an equally difficult afternoon in the south. But he says he will take the players' opinions on board as they prepare for a tough game against Leeds on Boxing Day.

"When you ask the players their opinion, they may think that we worry about the opposition too much," he said. "Do we? Don't we? We have asked the question, so at least we can move the thing forward now. We haven't just walked off the pitch, having been beaten 2-0, and nothing has come of it.

"At a lot of clubs, players would go off, in little groups of three or four, and moan and groan. Nothing would come of it. Here, to give credit to the players, they stick together.

"We have asked them questions and the ones who wanted to voice an opinion. We listen to that and we try to be adults about it.

"We all want to be successful. I am not saying I have all the answers. We have a lot of experience in the dressing room, with the coaching staff and players.

"Can we find a way to get those elusive three or four wins on the bounce?

"We prepare for every game in the same way. We will review this game and we will prepare for Boxing Day.

"Leeds have a certain number of strengths which you want to prepare the side for. It is about how you convey that without people thinking that all you are doing is worrying about Leeds.

"It is psychology, really, I suppose. But all you really want is for the players to be prepared.

"If the way we think they should be prepared is not the way they want to be prepared… we are trying to be democratic, rather than autocratic.

"We all want to get to the same place. It is just about how we get there. There are a lot of teams who cannot do it. But we are in that embryonic stage still and maybe chopping and changing things is not the answer."

Comments

I personally am still fully behind the gaffer and what he is trying to do. However at his previous clubs he was always a bit more elusive rarely talking to the press. Now he seems to be talking a little too much and at times he's giving out mixed messages. If you are going to talk as much as he does he needs to be consistent with what he is saying. His last few interviews have weakened his position a little too much and he's providing ammunition for the fickle fans to shoot him with. As another article on here rightly states watfords new signings have played together at udinese and cardiff have added to a settle squad and tinkered rather than made wholesale changes.
Boro are a good case in point. They shipped out many of their high earners over the last few years and Mowbray has done a cracking job putting a new squad together last season with them looking more competitive this season. Time has been provided and he's got the whole club moving forwards now. O Driscoll points to boro as the template he wants to follow and you can see why. Yes qe've made 14 signings but with the exception of cox amd sharp most are steady eddies who were signed in a rush due to us having next to nobody at the start of the season. Fans have started to yearn for the return if the likes of mcgoldrick, greening, miller and tudgay whereas I feel shipping them out shows we are actually heading in the right direction. Yearning for them is a short term solution to a long term problem. As a club we've flattered to decieve for getting on for 20 years, we've a manager who is in it for the long term looking ahead rather than at an instant fix and we continue to invest in our academy which hasn't produced a first team player for about ten years now. Moyes, Wenger, Ferguson and even Cloughy all had ropey starts yet were given time and turned their respective clubs into successes. Rodgers is undergoing a long term project at Liverpool after they chucked money at it under Daglish and ended up in ezLong term where will Chelsea be when the money dries up?